Prince William + Kate Middleton Welcome Their Royal Baby

Hear ye, hear ye! On this day, July 22, Prince William and yon wife Kate Middleton have successfully created the third successor in line for the British throne: a (still unnamed) baby boy.

That's right, kids. The royal bun has officially exited the royal oven. And Kanye had nothing to do with it.

According to Kensington Palace, the tot was born at 4:24pm local time -- that's 11:24am ET -- and weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz.

Previously, we were told the news would be announced via royal easel (as was the case with Prince William), with the doctor present for the delivery signing a proclamation that was then rushed to be set up in front of Buckingham Palace for all the commoners to oooh and aaah over.

Supposedly, the royal palace did not want to announce of the birth via Twitter in order to maintain "'the theatre' of a genuine royal occasion." (Aka "we don't have any real power, at least let us have this.") But according to the Clarence House Twitter feed, it looks like they broke with tradition, announcing the news after sending out an emailed press release.

But eventually, the announcement did go up via easel. Here's a shot of that:

Twitter

On July 2, reporters started lining up outside St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington to prep for the baby's birth, with parking suspensions around the hospital in effect until the end of the month. Kate finally went into labor earlier today, and wound up delivering her little boy in the Lindo Wing of the hospital -- where both her husband and his brother Harry were born.

As you are no doubt aware, William, 30, and Kate, 31, married in grand fashion on April 29, 2011, after which the media began acting like the Royal Gynecologist and engaging in endless speculation about the state of the new Duchess' womb. And in December of last year, their persistence paid off when Buckingham Palace announced Kate was indeed expecting.

Her pregnancy was not without its problems, though -- she was hospitalized a few times for severe morning sickness, and one of those stays resulted in a radio prank gone horribly awry.

But never mind all that. For now, congratulations to the brand new momma, papa and their bouncing baby future monarch, the Prince of Cambridge.